US-12618559-B2 - Gas furnace and air conditioner having the same

US12618559B2US 12618559 B2US12618559 B2US 12618559B2US-12618559-B2

Abstract

Disclosed are a gas furnace and an air conditioner having the same. The gas furnace includes: a fuel valve; a manifold providing a passage of fuel passing through the fuel valve; a plurality of burners provided to burn fuel provided from the manifold and spaced apart from each other in one direction; a plurality of heat exchangers providing a passage of combustion gas generated by the plurality of burners; and a blower for causing a flow of air passing around the heat exchanger. The manifold includes: a first tube having one end connected to the fuel valve and forming a first passage; a second tube extending in the one direction, forming a second passage, and facing at least one of the plurality of burners; a third tube extending in the one direction, forming a third passage, and facing remaining burners of the plurality of burners; and a three-way valve connected to the first tube, the second tube, and the third tube.

Inventors

Janghee Park
Yongki Jeong
Jinwoo Lee

Assignees

LG ELECTRONICS INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20221101
Priority Date: 20211105

Claims (16)

1 . A gas furnace, comprising: a fuel valve; a manifold that provides a passage of fuel passing through the fuel valve; a plurality of burners configured to burn fuel provided from the manifold and spaced apart from each other in a first direction; a plurality of heat exchangers that provides a passage of combustion gas generated by the plurality of burners; and a blower configured to cause a flow of air passing around the heat exchanger, wherein the manifold comprises: a first tube having one end connected to the fuel valve and that forms a first passage; a second tube that extends in the first direction, forms a second passage, and faces at least one of the plurality of burners; a third tube that extends in the first direction, forms a third passage, and faces remaining burners of the plurality of burners; and a three-way valve connected to the first tube, the second tube, and the third tube, wherein the three-way valve comprises: a connector having a first part connected to the first tube, a second part connected to the second tube, and a third part connected to the third tube; and a ball rotatably coupled to an inside of the connector, and having a first opening, a second opening, and a third opening that faces in different directions, and wherein a positional relationship between the second part and the third part with respect to the first part is identical to a positional relationship between the second opening and the third opening with respect to the first opening.
2 . The gas furnace of claim 1 , wherein the three-way valve guides fuel passing through the first passage to flow to the second passage and the third passage or to the third passage.
3 . The gas furnace of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of burners comprises: a first burner group with burners that face the second tube; and a second burners group with burners that face the third tube, and wherein the three-way valve is positioned between the second tube and the third tube.
4 . The gas furnace of claim 3 , wherein a number of the burners in the first burner group is equal to a number of the burners in the second burner group.
5 . The gas furnace of claim 3 , further comprising: a plurality of first nozzles that is connected to the second tube, faces the burners in the first burner group, and is spaced apart from the burners in the first burner group; and a plurality of second nozzles that is connected to the third tube, faces the burners in the second burner group, and is spaced apart from the burners in the second burner group.
6 . The gas furnace of claim 5 , wherein each of the burners in the first burner group further comprises: a venturi portion that forms an entry of a corresponding one of the burners in the first burner group; a head portion that forms an exit of the corresponding one of the burners of the first burner group; a retainer inserted into the head part; and a holder connected to the venturi portion and having a corresponding one of the plurality of first nozzles inserted thereinto and fixed thereto.
7 . The gas furnace of claim 3 , further comprising: a flange connected to the plurality of burners between the plurality of burners and forming a flame propagation port; a burner box that accommodates the plurality of burners and the flange; an igniter mounted to the burner box and adjacent to an exit of a burner positioned farthest from the first burner group among the burners in the second burner group; and a flame detector mounted to the burner box and adjacent an exit of a burner positioned farthest from the second burner group among the burners in the first burner group.
8 . The gas furnace of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of heat exchangers comprises: a first heat exchanger group with heat exchangers in communication with the burners in the first burner group; and a second heat exchanger group with heat exchangers in communication with the burners in the second burner group, and wherein the gas furnace further comprises an inducer that causes a flow of combustion gas through the heat exchangers in the first heat exchanger group and the heat exchangers in the second heat exchanger group.
9 . The gas furnace of claim 8 , wherein the heat exchangers in the first heat exchanger group and the heat exchangers in the second heat exchanger group extend in a second direction crossing the first direction, and wherein the blower is positioned to be biased toward the second heat exchanger group with respect to a reference line extending in the second direction between the first heat exchanger group and the second heat exchanger group.
10 . The gas furnace of claim 1 , wherein the ball is rotatable between a first position and a second position, wherein in response to the ball being located at the first position, the first opening faces the first part, the second opening faces the second part, and the third opening faces the third part, and wherein in response to the ball being located at the second position, the second opening faces the first part, the first opening faces the third part, and the third opening faces an inner wall of the connector.
11 . The gas furnace of claim 10 , wherein the three-way valve further comprises: a rotary motor that provides a rotational force; a shaft provided to be rotatable by power from the rotary motor, fixed to the ball through the connector, and that provides a central axis of rotation of the ball; and a controller configured to control an operation of the rotary motor.
12 . The gas furnace of claim 10 , wherein a diameter of the ball is greater than an inner diameter of the first part, an inner diameter of the second part, and an inner diameter of the third part, and wherein the connector further comprises a groove positioned between the second part and the third part and corresponding to a surface of the ball.
13 . The gas furnace of claim 12 , wherein the ball further comprises a curved portion that faces the first opening with respect to the second opening and the third opening, and wherein a part of the curved portion is inserted into the second part in response to the ball being located at the second position.
14 . A gas furnace comprising: a fuel valve; a manifold that provides a passage of fuel passing through the fuel valve; a plurality of burners configured to burn fuel provided from the manifold and spaced apart from each other in a first direction; a plurality of heat exchangers that provides a passage of combustion gas generated by the plurality of burners; and a blower configured to cause a flow of air passing around the heat exchanger, wherein the manifold comprises: a first tube having one end connected to the fuel valve and that forms a first passage; a second tube that extends in the first direction, forms a second passage, and faces at least one of the plurality of burners; a third tube that extends in the first direction, forms a third passage, and faces remaining burners of the plurality of burners; and a three-way valve connected to the first tube, the second tube, and the third tube, wherein the three-way valve guides fuel passing through the first passage to flow to the second passage and the third passage or to the third passage, wherein the plurality of burners comprises: a first burner group with burners that faces the second tube; and a second burners group with burners that faces the third tube, wherein the three-way valve is positioned between the second tube and the third tube, wherein the gas furnace further comprises: a flange that is connected to the plurality of burners between the plurality of burners and forms a flame propagation port; a burner box that accommodates the plurality of burners and the flange; an igniter mounted to the burner box and adjacent to an exit of a burner positioned farthest from the first burner group among the burners in the second burner group; a flame detector mounted to the burner box and adjacent an exit of a burner positioned farthest from the second burner group among the burners in the first burner group; and an auxiliary detector mounted to the burner box and adjacent an exit of a burner positioned closest to the first burner group among the burners in the second burner group.
15 . The gas furnace of claim 14 , wherein the igniter, the flame detector, and the auxiliary detector are detachably mounted to the burner box.
16 . An air conditioner having an outdoor unit and a ventilator that are connected to each other through a refrigerant pipe, wherein the ventilator comprises: an air supply fan that causes a flow of air along an air supply passage; an exhaust fan that causes a flow of air along an exhaust passage separated from the air supply passage; a plurality of coils located in the air supply passage and having refrigerant flowing therethrough; and the gas furnace of claim 1 , wherein the gas furnace is positioned downstream of the plurality of coils in the air supply passage.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0151810, filed Nov. 5, 2021, whose entire disclosures are hereby incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Disclosure The present disclosure relates to a gas furnace and an air conditioner having the same. Related Art In general, an air conditioner refers to an apparatus for cools and heating an indoor space through compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation of refrigerant. The air conditioner can improve indoor air quality by exchanging indoor unit with outdoor air through a ventilator. In addition, the ventilator may increase the temperature of air supplied to the indoor space by using high-temperature combustion gas of a gas furnace. International patent application WO 2005-095870 A1 (published on Oct. 13, 2005) discloses a gas furnace in which a plurality of burners are classified into two groups and thermal power of each group is independently controlled. Specifically, the manifold of the gas furnace is divided into two sections by a separator plate, and each of the two sections communicates with each of the two groups. Also, the gas furnace has a first gas valve for supplying fuel to one of the two sections, and a second gas valve for supplying fuel to the other of the two sections. That is, the above gas furnace independently controls the thermal power of each group using the first gas valve and the second gas valve, and adjusts the thermal power of the gas furnace in stages. However, this control may require the gas furnace to have at least two gas valves. In this case, compared to a case where the gas furnace is provided with a single gas valve, not only the cost of an added gas valve itself, but also the cost accompanied therewith (that is, the cost of a fuel supply pipe connecting the added gas valve and the manifold, the cost related to a structure for installing the added gas valve in the gas furnace, etc.) are increased. In addition, an igniter and a flame detector are required for each group of burners in the gas furnace, thereby increasing the cost and leading to inconvenience to control each igniter and each flame detector individually. In addition, the gas furnace has a difficulty in independently controlling at least two gas valves. In particular, when an air ratio of burners is to be controlled with one inducer, it may be difficult for the inducer to synchronize the air ratio of one group of burners with the air ratio of the other group. In other words, in order for the burners to have a constant air ratio, it is necessary to match an opening degree of a second gas valve corresponding to one group of the burners to an opening degree of a first gas valve corresponding to the other group. In this case, in a case where the first gas valve is a dual stage valve capable of controlling an opening degree in two stages (i.e., open fully (100%) and open in half (50%)), even if the second gas valve is a modulating valve capable of controlling an opening degree to a lower level than the first gas valve, it may be difficult to reduce the opening degree of the second gas valve to 50% or less. That is, it may be difficult for the gas furnace to provide thermal power below a certain level because an opening degree of any one of the independently controlled gas valves is restricted by another valve when all of the burners are operated. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE An aspect of the present disclosure is to solve the above and other problems. Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a gas furnace capable of providing a user with thermal comfort and reducing heating cost and energy by implementing a high Top Down Ratio (TDR). Here, the TDR refers to a ratio of maximum thermal power to minimum thermal power. Yet another aspect of the present disclosure provides a gas furnace capable of controlling thermal power in stages in a wide range. Yet another aspect of the present disclosure provides a mechanism capable of supplying fuel to only some burners using a minimum number of valves in order to implement a thermal power below a reference thermal power. Yet another aspect of the present disclosure provides various methods for controlling the above mechanism according to a required thermal power. Yet another aspect of the present disclosure provides a structure capable of minimizing the number of igniters and flame detectors provided in a plurality of burners. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a gas furnace including: a fuel valve; a manifold providing a passage of fuel passing through the fuel valve; a plurality of burners provided to burn fuel provided from the manifold and spaced apart from each other in one direction; a plurality of heat exchangers providing a passage of combustion gas generated by the plurality of burners; and a blower for causing a flow of air passing around the heat exchanger. According to a